Psychologist testifies Lindsay Clancy was not criminally responsible in killing of 3 children

Lindsay Clancy didn’t appreciate the “wrongfulness” of killing her three children because of her mental health issues, a psychologist testifying for the defense said.

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Lindsay Clancy didn’t appreciate the “wrongfulness” of killing her three children because of her mental health issues, a psychologist testifying for the defense said at her murder trial Wednesday.

The testimony of Paul Zeizel is the strongest evidence yet to support the defense contentions that Clancy should not be held legally responsible for murder because she has bipolar disorder and was in the grip of a rare mental illness called postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children before trying to kill herself. Zeizel began seeing Clancy as a patient at a hospital after the deaths.

“She was unable to conform her behavior to the rule of law. She had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act,” Zeizel said, adding that she had “a mental disease or a defect.”

Add to GoogleLindsay Clancy trial: Defense focuses on postpartum psychosis01:57Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged from 8 months to 5 years old. Postpartum psychosis is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Researchers estimate that the condition — which is more serious and less common than postpartum depression — afflicts 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery.

Prosecutors say the former labor and delivery nurse planned the January 2023 killings and contrived to get her husband out of the house by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.